KNM: Volume 7 Chapter 1

KNM: Volume 7 Chapter 1

Master Lee’s Request

When he saw Daylight and the Taoist rushed towards the monster, Liola also focused on the nearby battlefield, in case Daylight lost to the monster and got injured.

“These days, demons have been on a steep increase, could it be an omen of disaster coming from the heavens?” Master Lee twisted his beard, looking worried for the country and its people.

“What he meant was, in the past year, a bunch of random monsters started running amok, and he doesn’t know if he should move the entire monastery to a place deep in the mountains to escape the monsters.” Kaiser turned his head, and explained to Liola.

Liola sank into his thoughts for a moment, “I don’t seem to remember these monsters before.”

“These creatures do not seem like ordinary demons, for they fear neither wooden swords, nor paper talismans or the like.”

Master Lee had already been sporting a long face for some time. Had it not been for Daylight’s and Kaiser’s arrival (mostly the former), their Overlook would probably suffer heavy casualties while dealing with these monsters.

It was then when Master Lee felt thankful his daughter had the foresight to let them stay, although Lee San Niang’s main reason of letting them stay was Baolilong.

“The world of Martial Arts has also been in turmoil, so the Alliance Leader decided to hold a Martial Arts Symposium, so everyone could come together and form a plan against these demons.”

Master Lee sighed in admiration for the Alliance Leader.

“That Alliance-whatchama-call-it took out some trashy sword, and a bunch of idiots risk their lives in the competition. Not to mention afterwards, they still have to break their heads to fight against the monsters. This move is practically the epitome of hiring free labour.” Kaiser grunted in disdain.
[T/N: Martial Arts Symposium is, in Martial Arts novel, often depicted by someone pulling out a famous sword as the reward and then a “friendly” competition to see which faction/person was the strongest. It often ends up being quite a brutal clash between factions and many people die as a result.]

Liola nodded slightly. However blunt Kaiser’s words were, they were direct and accurate. These words also made Master Lee seem a bit hesitant, and it looked like the Alliance Leader’s noble image in his mind had been shaken.

* * *

In the distance, because this green ball of a monster had been too huge, Daylight had convinced the Taoists to leave the battle, and they were watching the battle from the sidelines.

Daylight had commanded Flames back into the form of an enormous Dragon, and he had been circling in the air. Daylight looked like he was trying to figure out where to start. The monster in front of him looked like a giant green ball, and he could not figure out where its weakness was.

Other than rolling around, flattening buildings and leaving behind some sort of poisonous slime, it didn’t seem to do anything else.

“Flames, try using Blaze.”

Daylight commanded Flames, and it circled around towards the green ball.

A stream of fire spit out of its mouth aimed towards the green ball. However, there wasn’t much of a reaction from the green ball, and it continued to roll around. Nevertheless, its body began to warp. Where the fire reached, it was beginning to melt, and the opening seemed to have oozed out a large quantity of green liquid.

Daylight beckoned Flames to stop the fire. He closely examined the green ball: it looked like an apple somebody took a bite out of. It was so juicy, liquid came flowing out of it. The streets were covered in green slime, which forced the Taoists to back up even further.

Daylight frowned as he looked at the terrifying slime. Although this monster could be easily handled, but hitting it would cause its slime to run everywhere. With only one hole in it, it had covered an entire street. If they were to melt the entire green ball, they would probably be sinking in dozens of streets in slime.

‘Master!’

Daylight was shocked, and used telepathy to answer Flames, ‘What’s up?’

‘Its Highness, Baolilong, said its master asked it and me to catch this monster and throw it outside of the city before we melt it.’

Having a solid plan, Daylight felt reinvigorated. After commanding Flames to rendezvous with Baolilong, the two Dragons grabbed ahold of the giant green ball with their four claws, and their four wings flapped vigorously.

The citizens and the Taoists all widened their eyes to look at the unbelievable scene. Although they had already seen the Blue Sea Lancer commanding a demon, they were shocked to see yet another ‘demon’, and this one was even more eye-catching than the previous.

Everyone began to praise and admire, and of course, what was said the most were things like “The Blue Sea Lancer is really true to his name”.

With Baolilong and Flames’ efforts, the giant green ball had been slowly lifted off the surface.

Finally, with a giant flap of those four Dragon wings, the two Dragons soared into the sky with the green ball, and they headed towards the outside of the city. The citizens and the Taoists all cheered, and everyone formed a long line of a tail, following in the direction where the Dragons went.

It wasn’t until that the green ball had been melted into a pile of slime that Daylight returned to the city with Flames.

At this time, the citizens in the city had all gathered at the gate. As soon as they saw Daylight riding Flames, everyone cheered, “Blue Sea Lancer! Blue Sea Lancer!”

Daylight saw the scenery and was stunned. His face was completely red.

Seeing everyone’s cheers, Daylight awkwardly commanded Flames to stop at the city gate, but then everyone rushed up to him and made him feel completely overwhelmed.

He shyly laughed as he answered, “This is something I should do.”

* * *

“… Maintaining justice is something I should do. There is no need to thank me.” Kaiser raised his chest, pretending a steady tone.

Liola tilted his head and glanced at Kaiser’s actions.

“Psh!” As soon as he finished, Kaiser pouted, “I know what that guy is saying by just looking at him.”

Liola suddenly felt something at his leg. He lowered his head, and saw Baolilong had ran back already and tightly held onto his leg. Of course, the White Dragon in the sky was nowhere to be found.

Everyone was busy with Daylight, and no one seemed to have noticed a “demon” was missing.

Daylight, with his long tail of people, walked with smaller Flames back to the Overlook. Helplessness filled his face, probably caused by not knowing what to do with the people following him, especially the one with a bright red outfit and her face was caked in makeup.

She was carrying a couple dozen pictures of girls, and her mouth never stopped moving, boasting a dozen sentences per second. She was what the locals called a “matchmaker”.

Seeing this crowded scene, Kaiser leisurely raised the giant gun from his hips, and then raised it high.

Boom!

As he he fired a shot, successfully shutting up the endless mouths of the matchmakers. The scene went completely quiet, and Kaiser satisfactorily blew the barrel of his gun.

He then announced, “Void, close the doors!”

Void was stunned, but then he obediently walked to the Overlook door, and closed the heavy, wooden doors slowly.

Daylight took the opportunity to duck into the monastery. The matchmaker who was right behind Daylight wanted to come in with him, but Kaiser showed a devil-like smile, and pointed his mysterious weapon at the matchmaker. She got scared and withdrew her foot in the door, fearing the next boom sound would be accompanied by her own screams.

When the sound of the Overlook doors closing reached Daylight’s ears, he sighed in relief. Although he didn’t agree with Kaiser’s method, he couldn’t help but feel thankful to him for getting him out of the mess.

“Hero Daylight is definitely righteous and benevolent.” Master Lee praised, but then said with concern,

“It’s unfortunate we did not ascertain the origin of this demon, and you, Hero Daylight, are about to embark on your journey. I don’t know how many demons my apprentices could hold back, nor do I know if other cities also suffered similar attacks from these demons. They may not be as lucky as us, residents of Sky City, meeting Hero Daylight and company.”

Daylight’s face was also filled with worry, “True, after I’m gone, there isn’t anyone who could protect Sky City. So if those monsters come again, what is everyone going to do?”

As he said so, Daylight’s stare floated over towards Kaiser. He seemed to have been infected by the same habit as Liola. Whenever a problem they couldn’t solve arises, they would turn to the one with the most wicked ideas.

Kaiser rolled his eyes several times, but Daylight used his indomitable will of a Knight, and held Kaiser with his gaze, as if he was saying ‘If you don’t think of something, I’ll never leave’.

Kaiser could no longer bear with Daylight’s stare, and he vented his anger on others, “Damn geezer! What do you want us to do, just say it, stop acting all pretentious!”

Master Lee stroked his beard as he smiled. Other people might see it as a wise laugh, but in Kaiser’s eyes, it was a sinister laugh after an evil man reached his goals!

“I believe that, after Hero Daylight leaves, the Overlook should still be able to withstand attacks for a brief while. I simply hope Hero Daylight could find the source of these demons. As long as the source of these demons is taken care of, the citizens will, naturally, go back to their peaceful lives.”

“So that’s what you meant. I understand.” Daylight nodded. He had already thought of this before, so Master Lee’s request was right on spot.

‘Is this guy addicted to doing unpaid work?’

Veins popped on Kaiser’s head, but he knew, with Daylight’s nature, this was something they couldn’t get away from. Kaiser’s only wish was this journey to find the source of the demons wouldn’t spring off other troubles.

‘Devil Gle, sir, you have to protect your most precious descendant, Kaiser, and bless him with peaceful life in this new world!’

“Also, I hope you can bring Void. On one hand, you can help me train this little runt, and on another, if you do manage to take care of the demons, you could tell Void to come back to report to me.”

As Master Lee finished speaking, Void had an eager look on his face.

For the year they had been here, he had seen Daylight’s strength. Had it not been the fact he already had a master, Void would’ve knelt before Daylight and called him his master… even though Daylight was two years younger than Void himself.

“What! Let’s forget the fact you’ve made me an unpaid worker! And now you ask us to feed another mouth too?” Kaiser yelled, “Never! Never EVER!”

Void heard Kaiser, and was shocked. He immediately began to look at Daylight with pleading eyes, but Daylight put on a helpless expression.

Void then hesitatingly looked towards Liola, but he was unsure if he could help him solve the problem at all… If Daylight, as the eldest apprentice, couldn’t convince Kaiser, how would the second apprentice, Liola, have any say in it?

To Void, these three disciples were quite weird, because they had no concept of seniority. Even as the eldest, Daylight seemed to obey every word Kaiser said, even if he would ignore Kaiser when it came down to matters of justice.

Liola frowned slightly, then asked Void, “How familiar are you with the roads and the situation in the Martial Arts world?”

This question stunned Void, until Master Lee coughed to remind him. He then immediately responded, “Ve-very familiar. I travel across the Martial Arts world often. I didn’t return to the Overlook until a bit over a year ago.”

Liola looked at Kaiser, and said, “We’re not familiar with around here. It would be better to have a guide.”

Hearing Liola’s words, Kaiser almost wanted to beat him up.

For Kaiser and Daylight, it was natural for them not to be familiar with “here”, but he could not believe the guy who lived here for twenty years was telling them he wasn’t familiar with it…

However, Kaiser didn’t doubt what he said at all. The ice cube Liola indeed may live in a place for twenty years and not know the sky was blue.

“Understood, then let’s bring him.” Kaiser answered unwillingly.

Hearing this, Void was so happy he was about to jump for joy. He looked at “second disciple” with gratitude, and said with the utmost respect, “May I ask where you intend to go?”

“Places where there’s money to be made.”
“Places where there are Martial Arts masters.”

The person he asked, Liola, didn’t seem to respond at all. Void thought about the two people’s requests, and suggested, “The Martial Arts Symposium is the place where masters gather, and there’s much money to be made if you win.”

“Martial Arts Symposium it is!” Daylight and Kaiser said in unison, which was a rare sight to be seen.

As soon as they finished, they both sank into their own fantasies. Of course, one of them dreamt of fighting with Grandmasters of Martial Arts, and the other dreamt of being crushed to death under too much money.

Liola began to think what his excuse would be when Kaiser forces him to enter into the Symposium competition. If he competes in the competition, there would always be a chance someone would recognize him.

Even though most of the righteous factions wouldn’t have anyone who would recognize him, but there’s no telling whether Assassin organization would send someone in undercover.

* * *

To make it in time for the Symposium, Daylight and Kaiser both hurriedly packed their bags, and the next morning, they both stood in front of the Assassin’s door. They then both began to knock on the door forcefully, and Kaiser even yelled. These noises made not only awakened Liola, they also made sure nobody in the entire Overlook could sleep.

Hearing Kaiser’s loud mouth, Liola suddenly jumped up. Not being able to notice their approach before they began to knock on the door was something rare for Liola, and noticed his body was feeling weak. But for someone who had been bedridden for a year, just feeling weak was already in great condition.

Liola ignored his body’s protest, and still got up to do his morning routines. In the eyes of an ordinary person, he wouldn’t look any different from before.

When Liola was halfway through, Kaiser couldn’t wait any longer. He kicked open the wooden door, and stared at Liola from the door as he washed his face, not to mention tapping his feet repeatedly on the ground.

Unfortunately, it didn’t affect Liola at all, and he continued leisurely going at his business. Finally, when Liola was slowly wiping his hand, Kaiser couldn’t take it anymore, and he grabbed Liola and rushed out.

“Breakfast, breakfast!” Kaiser murmured as he rushed. No matter how big of a hurry they were in, he could never forget to eat!

When Kaiser reached the dining room, Lee San Niang also came in holding a plate of breakfast. It was actually not time for breakfast yet, considering it was barely dawn.

Since Lee San Niang knew Kaiser for a year, she knew despite the fact Kaiser looked lazy, if there were money or food involved, he will definitely be in the front line. Therefore, she got up early for this occasion and prepared breakfast for Kaiser, otherwise Kaiser wouldn’t have anything to eat.

Seeing the hot steamed buns and dishes in her hands, Kaiser couldn’t help but gulped, and then dragged back the mouth-watering Dragon who flew out from behind Liola’s back, otherwise, the dishes would be thrown on the ground by Baolilong… Dragons didn’t really care whether or not food came in dishes.

Lee San Niang looked as Baolilong angrily grabbed Kaiser’s green hair, who also began to scream and trying to get away.

These two children’s actions made Lee San Niang laugh, and at the same time, tried to intervene, “Okay, okay, stop fighting, go and prepare to eat.”

Kaiser said “Okay” as he still pinched Baolilong’s face once more before he walked towards the table and sat down.

Baolilong, whose cheeks turned red from the pinching, pouted with watery eyes, and then turned around to run into Liola’s arms.

When Liola and Daylight both sat down, Kaiser, who never cared much about manners, began to gulp down food as if he hadn’t eaten in years. With a steamed bun in his left hand and a meat bun in his right, he would often put his head down to drink soy milk.

After Baolilong had cried in papa’s arms, it also climbed up to the table and began to fight with Kaiser over food, where they were both ate creating a mess.

Liola, on the other hand, chewed slowly. Daylight was hearty, but his actions were elegant nevertheless.

Before long, Void stepped in with panic on his face. Seeing his hair was completely messed up, everyone knew he hurried here as soon as he woke up.

He started apologizing as soon as he came in, fearing Kaiser would turn back on his decision to take him. Kaiser, however, rolled his eyes at Void, and then continued his fight for food with the Dragon.

Then, the few people of importance in the Overlook had also gathered around, but they didn’t enter the “battle” for food.

Seeing Baolilong and Kaiser were already at the point with open mouths and drawn guns, no one dared to come close to the dining table. They all stood on the side, watching and trying to hold back the laughter.

When they were about done eating, Master Lee had arrived. As soon as he entered the dining room, Lee San Niang hurriedly took out a plate with specially prepared breakfast and brought it to the Master’s seat.

“Yeah, otherwise we might not make it to the preliminaries.” Kaiser said with food in his mouth.

“Kaiser, I must remind you to use that weapon of yours called a ‘gun’, less often.” Master Lee showed a rare, caring expression.

Kaiser looked at the geezer strangely. Gun was his only weapon. What was he to do without a gun, fight bare-handed?

After Master Lee’s reminder, Void nodded his head too and said,

“Kaiser, I’m familiar with the Martial Arts world. Most Martial Arts practitioners wouldn’t be like people here, and be open minded to all sorts of strange things. Taoists, after all, come in contact with many mysterious, unexplainable things, so they could accept your strange special abilities, but for Martial Artists… They may take you for someone from the wicked factions.”

“Wicked factions? What’s that?” Kaiser frowned.

“They are the wicked ones in the Martial Arts world, such as Assassins. Those people are often pursued by the righteous factions.”

Void was just giving an example, but he had no idea he had hit the jackpot.

Kaiser kept calm and answered, “Understood”.

Daylight, who never lied, had a strange look on his face, and he buried his face in food. They all knew, Liola was the number one Assassin, and therefore practically the devil figurehead of the wicked factions.

Kaiser was also the descendent of a devil. Lastly, Baolilong’s biological father was probably about to be the devilish Dragon… In reality, their team’s wicked vs. righteous ratio was three to one; it was practically overwhelming with evil.

“If you really can’t be accepted by the righteous factions, come back to the Overlook, and let me clarify your identities. The righteous factions should overlook it on my behalf.”

Master Lee smiled lightly.

For the first time, Kaiser did not add any explanation to Lee’s words, and all he did was scratched his face uneasily.

Daylight stood up and said earnestly on behalf of his companions, “Thank you, very much, Master Lee. We are indebted to your care over the last year.”

Master Lee stroked his beard, smiled and nodded.

He looked at the two youngsters in front of them with personalities so different, they were heaven and earth apart: one is earnest, and the other was rather weird.

The former had helped the Overlook plenty, and even if he hadn’t, his righteous and amicable personalities would’ve conquered the hearts of everyone at the Overlook.

The latter, however, made everyone shook their heads as soon as they arrived. But after getting to know him, everyone understood his awkward personality. Every time Daylight would go out to fight monsters, Kaiser would always say he wouldn’t care about what happens. But as soon as Kaiser heard something, he was the first one to run out.

“Daylight, Kaiser, you two need to take good care of Liola. He had just recovered from being seriously injured. If it weren’t for the fact you’re trying to make it to the Symposium, he should really stay here and nourish his body.”

Lee San Niang said as she worriedly looked at Liola. Although he didn’t look out of the ordinary, he was, after all, someone who had slept for a whole year. It was quite strange to her that Liola seemed to be free as he did.

“Who cares about him! It’s more like he should be taking care of me.”

Kaiser ignored everything Lee San Niang said. Liola was the best Assassin and on the same level as Lancelot and others, he would never need people like Kaiser to take care of him, right?

“Little runt, he is your second brother after all. Let’s forget the fact you don’t respect elders, but at least you should remember the friendship between apprentices.” Master Lee sighed and shook his head.

“He’s my second ‘older brother’, correct. And as my ‘older brother’, he doesn’t take care of me and instead wants me to take care of him? That’s ridiculous!” Kaiser retorted tactlessly.

“You little runt…” Master Lee got so angry that he blew his beard and popped his eyes.

They finished breakfast under the constant lectures of Master Lee and retorts from Kaiser ridiculous enough to make people spit food out of their mouths.

Kaiser and Daylight had stayed there for far more than Kaiser had originally intended.

After finishing their last breakfast in this place, Daylight went as far as saying goodbyes to all the people one-by-one. There were probably about a hundred people in the Overlook, and at least dozens of which were familiar with Daylight. After Daylight had finished, it was already pretty late. It was then when they started on their journey. Practically everyone in the Overlook stood at the entrance, sending these five people off.

“You have to take good care of Baolilong.” Lee San Niang unwillingly let go of Baolilong from her arms. If it were possible, she really wanted to keep this child, but unfortunately Baolilong was practically glued to Liola.

Daylight showed a strange expression again. Being terrible at lying, he really could not make a proper response to Lee San Niang. Asking him to take good care of someone else’s Dragon? It would be far too hard on him. He already had enough trouble taking care of Flames. As soon as he thought about it, Flames unhappily prodded its master with its head.

Liola nodded lightly. Lee San Niang misunderstood Liola’s cold personality as the possibility he was unhappy with taking care of Baolilong, and she said with a cold face,

“If you don’t want to take care of the child, you could leave him here. I will treat him as my own.”

Who knew as soon as she said so, Baolilong began to desperately struggle out of Lee San Niang’s arms. It then swung its little chubby legs to run back to Liola, and then grabbed his legs and wouldn’t let go, fearing papa would really do what Lee San Niang asked and leave it here.

“Lee-jiejie, don’t misunderstand.” Kaiser saw something was wrong with the atmosphere of the conversation, and quickly clarified,

“My second brother is just a bit introverted, so his response would be like this. Even if you were to swing a knife at him he wouldn’t make a sound. But, don’t worry, he will take good care of Baolilong, like he had done so for a long time before. If he really treated Baolilong poorly, then Baolilong wouldn’t be as attached to him.”

“Well, that is true.” Lee San Niang looked at Liola’s cold face, and remembered he hadn’t said much since he woke up, so perhaps it was indeed his personality.

Lee San Niang nodded, and then turned worriedly and said to someone else, “Void, please do look after Baolilong for me. He’s too playful, and I’m afraid he might run away when you guys aren’t paying attention.”

Daylight scratched his face, and then walked back to his companions. It was the team of four people and two Dragons reluctantly parted from the Overlook.

When they walked onto the streets, the few citizens walking there had recognized the Blue Sea Lancer, and they were all rushing up to them. Kaiser and company decided immediately to let Flames shapeshift back to its giant form. Everyone jumped onto Flames’ back, and they flew out of the Sky City.